Hank: Yanks Would Not Exceed Five Years On Johan

Wouldn't saying that be considered tampering?
Cashman must be counting the days until he is out of there. Do they even allow him to make decisions anymore?

Tampering is a very fine line. As much as I hate hank I dont think this would qualify as tampering. I have heard (yet not from a reliable source) that Cashman will be out the door at the end of the 08 contract. If they are not going to let him do his job, there is no point in him being there. He has been doing his best to rebuild the 90's yankees team and hank is about to demolish all his work with one fell swoop.

However. my take on the situation as i've posted before, is that the yankees are not really interested in Johan. After signing Arod, they lose giambi after 08, they lose mussina i believe after 08, they lose pettite if he retires after 08, they just lost clemens, the pattern is they are trying to free up the payroll for a big signing in '09 for the new stadium. I dont believe they are actually interested, and i believe hanks mouth is proving it. He is trying his hardest to get the red sox to lose some players that are not disposable income. They have plenty of young starters, lester is not really a necessity to this red sox team. crisp is replaced by ellsbury. and lowrie and masterson are not MLB ready yet according to most sources. Ellsbury also is disposable as good as he is. There is an abundance of good outfielders between the current roster and their minor league system. dont forget if they hold crisp, they still possess the best defensive center fielder in the A.L. maybe short of torii hunter, and a great deal of speed to go along with an average bat. The yankees want the sox to up their deal and actually lose something in this trade. The yankees would be retarded to trade hughes. melky i can see being traded as the yanks have too many outfielders as it is, but hughes is a dominant young pitcher who has already shown before his injury that he has what it takes to perform in the Majors. keep in mind his 6 inning no hitter the day he got injured. If you dont think hes workin his ass off to get back in top form you are retarded. Hughes is a great asset to this organization. So as i said my prediction: This will go on until the twins have no time left to trade Johan (Johan said he will not waive his clause once the spring training begins) at which time Johan will be putting on a boston jersey. This new peice of info basically reiterates what i just said. The sox said they will give him 7 years 150 million if thats what he wants. why would he go to the yankees for 5 years 100 million? it just doesn't make sense.

Also pitcher prices are going to go up. they are saying that by 2010 we will see a pitcher (most likely josh beckett or someone of his caliber) ask for the same thing arod got 275 million for 10 years, and will probably get some offers. pitching is such a necessity and as is proven year after year hitting doesn't win u a championship. pitching does. Diamondbacks, red sox, marlins, were all pitching teams. that covers the last like 5 years?

Hank Hearts Cash

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyside075491318dec07,0,5598267.story

From Kat O'Brien -

"We haven't discussed [Brian Cashman's] extension yet, but he's part of the Yankee family and has been for 21 years. I don't see any reason to not continue that."

"He's busy, we're busy, there just hasn't been any detailed discussion about that," Steinbrenner said. "Is Brian's job on the line because of what the team does this year? No, that's sensationalism to say it's based on 2008 ... I'm very pleased with what Brian and Damon [Oppenheimer] and Mark Newman and all the scouts and people have done with the drafts, with the last three drafts."

Looks like Brian can write his own ticket when it comes to Hank.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/119959777672890.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

On his relationship with general manager Brian Cashman:

"(Brian) can be more conservative with our money than we are. He put back together our organization. I've always told him, there are things that have to be my final decision. But he's the general manager, and he has the right to try and talk me out of it. And he has talked me out of it."

Theo aka Flip-flopper, I thought He quit and then went back to Redsox in gorilla outfit so Redsox can finish Josh Beckett trade.. Gimme me break.

"Wouldn't saying that be considered tampering?"

Apparently not. I mean, seriously, can we give this a rest already? If an owner, team president, GM, etc, keeps making all of these public comments, and nobody that matters (ie -- someone from the commissioner's office) says anything about it, then it's not tampering. Besides, in this case, Hank's comments would tend to make Santana LESS likely to use his NTC to force a trade to the Yankees, not more.

Now, I suppose we can argue about whether this stuff should be considered tampering if that really makes us happy, but tampering isn't defined by us posting here on this board, or by sportwriters or bloggers. It's defined by MLB, and there's been no indication that MLB has any real problem with Hank's big mouth. Or Omar Minaya's. Or Arte Moreno's. Or even Scott Boras'.

I disagree with most of you. The yankees have money they can eat. They dont want to get stuck paying Johan 15 mil a year for his 36 and 37 seasons when he might possibly be breaking down. I think its a smart move. I will take Johan for 5/120 over 7/140 every day.

04forever, how does it make him a whiner? Is Theo Epstein a whiner because he doesnt want to give upp ellsbury and lester in the same deal? The Redsox wont come up with what the twins want either obviously, or a deal would be done. So are they whiners too? It is called being smart and not wanting to trade Hughes and sign a guy to a 7 year deal. And Hughes is better then any one guy that Boston is offering anyway, so it makes the decision harder.

I love how people always say pitching wins championships, not hitting. You have to hit and pitch. The Padres and Dodgers both had sick rotations. They both didnt hit at all. They didnt make the playoffs. The Phillies won the division with no pitching, and the Rockies went to the world series with no pitching. Jaff Francis is a solid number 3 type of guy, but he was their best pitcher. Aaron Cook? Seriously? Boston can hit and pitch, and thats what you have to do. Pitching doesnt win championships, getting a group of pitchers hot at the right time wins championships. Its a crapshoot in the playoffs. Look at the Cards from a couple years ago. They had Carp and a bunch of stinky garbage in their rotation and proceeded to beat a Tiger team consiting of Bonderman, Verlander, Rogers, all who had big time seasons in 06. Not saying pitching doesnt help, but you still have to be able to hit, and you still need some guys to get hot and carry you through the playoffs.

hank kind of reminds me of the rock from wwe, he might as well end every sentence with "know your roll, and shut your mouth!"

Wow...a wrestling reference...time to take everthing he says serious...